Josh reviews Gladiator II

It’s hard to make a sequel in the best of circumstances, and when we’re talking about a “legacy” sequel made decades later, it’s especially challenging.  All sequels have to find a way to walk the line between recapturing what we loved about the original film and being different enough to be more than just be a retread.  Additionally, especially with a sequel made so many years later, I feel like the movie needs to give us a reason why it exists; why this story was worth telling.

If the original Gladiator didn’t exist, I’d probably think more highly of Gladiator II.  But, of course, that film does exist, and it holds up today as a classic.  I’m afraid that, for me, Gladiator II feels like a pale shadow of that original film.  We basically get the same story as the first film, with some cosmetic differences.  (Gladiator II finally makes some different story choices in the final act, but we’re pretty deep into the movie by then.)

I’d hoped this would feel like an enjoyable continuation of the original film, rather than a re-run.  I wish the story’s set-up was clearer.  (How did we get from the end of the first film to where we are at the start of this film?  Who are these crazy, inbred-seeming twins who are now in charge of the Roman Empire?  Where did they come from?)  I wish the plot of this new story was more substantive.  (Once we get the full story of Paul Mescal’s new gladiator, it turns out that it’s a pretty enormous coincidence that he’s wound up in basically exactly the same spot as Russell Crowe’s Maximus.)  I wish the characterizations weren’t so thin.

Frankly, I knew I was in trouble as soon as the film’s title card appeared on screen, and the “i” in the middle of Gladiator split into a “II”.  GladIIator??  Ugh.  Nothing says lame to me quite like the sequel’s number replacing a letter in the middle of the title.

On the other hand, there’s plenty to enjoy in Gladiator II, especially if you moderate your expectations and just go into this as a popcorn-eating action spectacle.  Sir Ridley Scott (currently 87 years old) remains a visual master, and no one directs an action sequence quite like he does.  There are some spectacular extended action sequences in this film.  The Romans’ assault by ship on Numidia in the opening is a highlight.  That’s a spectacular, thrilling sequence!  It’s a parallel to the action sequence that opened the first film, Maximus’ assault on the Germanic tribes, only this time our hero is on the losing side.  Already it was clear to me that this sequel was following the same narrative structure as the first film, only here I didn’t mind because this felt like a very different type of action sequence than anything we saw in the first film.  And the sequence extremely exciting!  The production values were incredible; everything looked immersive and real to me.  The storytelling was clear — I loved how well Mr. Scott and his team were able to establish the geography of this sequence.  The action is thrilling and visceral.

That sequence was a strong start to the film, though not all of the action that followed was nearly as interesting to me. There was too much of a sense of taking what was in the first film and upping the ante to a degree that was — to me — silly.  Maximus fought lions In the first film, so here he fights a batch of over-the-top vicious-looking CGI baboons, and then later there are sharks.  Yes, somehow they filled the entire Colosseum with water???  And there are boats and sharks??  I’m no historian, but that seems insane and impossible to me!!  I rolled my eyes.  (There was also a huge rhino, but I loved that!  Somehow that worked for me; the effects looked great and it felt more plausible to me than the CGI baboons or the sharks.)

There are some talented actors in the mix, though as I’d noted above there’s not much depth or development given to any of the characters.  Replacing Russell Crowe, who was so perfect as Maximus, is a fool’s errand, though I quite like Paul Mescal’s performance as our new titular gladiator.  (The film sits on the revelation of his name and backstory for a while, so I won’t spoil it here.)  I liked Mr. Mescal’s aura of calm, quiet strength, and he was convincing physically in the film’s many exciting action scenes.  If I wasn’t constantly comparing him to Russell Growe’s Maximus, I think I’d think more highly of his performance!

I liked the way the film sets up our new hero to be at odds with the Roman general Acacius, played by Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones).  Mr. Pascal has the physicality to embody this warrior, and he brings a great core of strength and dignity to the character.  I liked the way the story positions Acacius as an enemy to Paul Mescal’s character, without making Acacius into a villain.

Denzel Washington is a lot of fun as the scheming, power-hungry slave-dealer Macrinus.  Like Oliver Reed’s Proximo from the first film, Macrinus was a former slave, though while Proximo ultimately had a good heart, here Macrinus is far more self-serving.  Mr. Washington plays the role with a grin and a sparkle in his eye; he’s a lot of fun to watch.

I was happy to see Connie Nielsen back from the first film as Lucilla.  It’s interesting to see what’s happened to Lucilla in the intervening years.  No surprise, she didn’t quite get a happy ending, despite what we saw in the closing minutes of the first film.  (Lucilla gets the best line in the film, about how she’s had men’s swords at her throat all her life.)  (I also love that the film allows her to be in a relationship with a man played by an actor ten years younger than she is!  Usually we see the opposite age gap!)

I was happy to see Derek Jacobi back as Senator Gracchus; that was a nice piece of connectivity with the first film.  Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger certainly gave their all playing the crazy Emperor brothers, but I have so many questions about these characters, and I think the film would have been stronger had these villains been less cartoonish.  Alexander Karim is strong in a few scenes as Ravi, a former gladiator who now functions as a doctor patching up wounded gladiators.

I had fun watching Gladiator II, but it wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped; I doubt this is a film I’ll be rushing to re-watch any time soon.

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